FOXBORO, Mass. — The end result of a New England Patriots game typically looks good, but Sunday’s 41-13 win over the Miami Dolphins was another blowout that didn’t quite feel like a blowout.
The performance was comparable to the Patriots’ second-half explosions against the Indianapolis Colts, Buffalo Bills and even San Diego Chargers earlier in the season.
The Patriots went into halftime Sunday at Gillette Stadium with a one-point lead over the Dolphins and were being outplayed by their AFC East rivals. The Patriots gained just 102 first-half yards to the Dolphins’ 271, and they only led 14-13 at all because of two key plays: a Jamie Collins blocked field goal returned for a touchdown by cornerback Kyle Arrington and an interception and 60-yard run by safety Duron Harmon.
The football seemed to be coming out of quarterback Tom Brady’s hand funny on offense, and the Patriots couldn’t quite seem to figure out their proper matchups in coverage on defense. They started out with Darrelle Revis on Jarvis Landry, Brandon Browner on Brian Hartline and Malcolm Butler on Mike Wallace. The latter matchup resulted in three catches for 89 yards with an end-of-the-half touchdown.
“We just made adjustments at halftime and really just started faster,” Revis said. “We felt like, coming out, we played a little slow in the first half, so just making some adjustments at halftime and starting faster out there.”
Revis was his usual dominant self, allowing just two catches for 18 yards to Landry in the first half. Because of Butler’s struggles, Revis switched to Wallace in the second half, and Logan Ryan came in to cover Landry. That’s probably the matchup the Patriots should have used all along, and they allowed just 113 yards in the second half.
“It was more just, ‘Stop beating ourself,’ ” Harmon said about Patriots head coach Bill Belichick’s message at halftime. “Situational football at the end wasn’t up to par to what we call acceptable. ‘We have to play better situational football, then everything will take care of itself.'”
There’s a fear that when it matters most, the Patriots won’t be able to adjust and get back on a hot streak to close out the game. Wide receiver Julian Edelman, who caught seven passes for 88 yards with one touchdown, said the Patriots must work on staying consistent this week.
“We can put in the bank that we didn’t start fast,” Edelman said. “It did show that this is a mentally tough team. We have to continue to try to get better at that. I assure you with our coaching staff and everyone here, it will be harped on this week. We’ll try to get that down.”
Brady, who admittedly was pissed off with the Patriots’ first-half effort, knows it’s impossible to push the pedal to the metal all game.
“I think you’re going to have times where you play less than optimal, because if you played optimal all the time, you’d score 75 points a game, which is impossible,” Brady said. “So you’re going to have stretches where you get stopped on third down or you don’t convert plays you should have, and then I just think it’s always good to kind of reassess where we’re at. I know we were all pretty pissed off at halftime.”
The Patriots’ biggest second-half adjustment was getting Rob Gronkowski, who was held catchless in the first half, involved early. Gronk sparked the Patriots’ 27-0 run with a 34-yard reception to start the second half. He scored a 27-yard touchdown later in the third quarter.
The Patriots are fortunate to have a high-powered offense that can kick in at any moment and a defense that can keep the score manageable. When those two units work at a high level together, the Patriots might be impossible to stop.
Photo via Charles Krupa/Associated Press
